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Tuesday 20 August 2013

Sierra Nevada, Granada Province.

More Butterflies, Birds and endemic Wildflowers.
Steve, Lynn and Adam, Day Seven.

Ptilotrichum spinosum.
Lynn, Steve, Adam and I got up early and made our way up the Sierra Nevada for a days Butterfly and Alpine Accentor hunting.
Snow Wave.
On the way through the fields near the house we started the list off with Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), a fly over Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor) and once we were out on the Motorway we added Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica) and Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus).
Purple-shot Copper (Lycaena alciphron).
Once we were up in the hills we started make our way towards the Albergue de Universitario where we parked and sorted out the tickets for the minibus up to the stop just below Veleta. On the way up in the bus we picked up a few species on the road side including Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), Tawny Pipit (Bisbita campestre / Anthus campestris) and Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina).
Once we were off the bus we made our way along a path that ran out below the road to the summit, along hear we saw Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus), House (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus) and after a while we found the first target, a very nice Alpine Accentor (Acentor Alpino / Prunella modularis) which was feeding on an area of snow.
Steve in yet another dodgy to position.
In the same area we picked up several species of wildflower including Eryngium glacialeEryngium bourgatii, Ptilotrichum spinosum, Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata), Nevada Mullien (Verbascum nevadense), Silene boryi subsp tejedensis, Linaria aeruginea subsp. nevadensis and Erigeron frigidus.
Later we caught the bus back down to the Albergue and then went for a walk along the track out to the head of the Barranco de San Juan, in the car park we picked up Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), several Black Satyr (Satyrus actaea) butterflies and lots of Carpentor Bee's (Xylocopa violacea).
Gentiana pneumonanthe subsp depressa.


We started the walk out from just above the barrier and quickly started to see lots more Black Satyr's along with Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), Oriental Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lupinnus), Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia comma) and a little further along the first of two late but newly emerged Apollo's (Parnassius apollo subsp nevadensis). 
We steadily made our way out along the track until we reached the area of borreguillies, on the way we saw Niobe Fritillary (Fabriciana niobe), Purple-shot Copper (Lycaena alciphron subsp gordius), Bath White (Pontia daplidice), Blue Spotted Hairstreak (Satyrium spini), Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera), Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia) and several of the rare Spanish Brassy Ringlet (Erebia hispania).
Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe).
Plants on and around the rocks included Sierra Nevada Violet (Viola crassiuscula / Violeta de Sierra Nevada), Sideritis glacialis, Nevada House Leek (Sempervivum vicentei ssp lainzii) and Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea var nevadensis). On the borreguillies we soon found some beautiful Gentiana pneumonanthe subsp depressa, Gentiana boryi, Comastoma tenellum, Starry Saxifrage (Saxifraga stellaris subsp robusta) and Viola palustris subsp palustris
Gentiana boryi.
Butterflies and Birds were also on site, new butterfly species included a dark female Southern Heath (Melitaea nevadensis) and Dark-green Fritillary (Speyeria aglaja), Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus hypochionus) and on the bird front we picked up Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia) and a distant Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos).
Once we had checked out this area we made out way back to the car and had some lunch on the far end of the car park before dropping down into the town and taking one of the tracks back out onto the skiing slopes. On a damp area just as we started the walk there were dozens of Black Satyr's, several Silver-spotted Skipper, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Oriental Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lupinnus), Small White (Artogeia rapae), Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) and Grayling (Hipparchia semele).
Comastoma tenellum.
Further along the track we saw a very nice Rock Grayling (Hipparchia alcyone), Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), Mountain Argus (Aricia montensis), Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis) and Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui).
Along the same area we had good views of Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Common Whitethroat (Curruca Zarcera / Sylvia communis), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula). Time had moved on so we started to make our way on down the hill and then back to the house.
Rock Grayling (Hipparchia alcyone).

3 comments:

Steve Jones said...

Love the shot of the Ptilotrichum spinosum Mick, it really puts it context with it's habitat. Thank you for yet another great day out.

Unknown said...

Bonitas imágenes
Un gran saludo de un seguidor

Anonymous said...

wat heerlijk om zo op stap te zijn en zoveel tegen te komen ,dat is toch heerlijk genieten.